Norton 360 Version 3 review

Each spring, Symantec updates Norton 360 to incorporate its latest internet security engine, alongside the traditional backup client and a few “tuneup” trinkets. This year it gains the Norton Internet Security 2009 back-end, an engine explicitly designed to explode the common perception of Norton software as slow and bloated.

It works too: on our Core i7-based test system installing Norton 360 didn’t slow down boot time by a single second, after which we only saw significant CPU activity for six further seconds.

RAM requirements are very conservative too. With the package installed our system’s total memory footprint was 574MB, just 29MB higher than a bare system.

It’s not bad at spotting malware, either. In our last Security Suites Labs roundup, Norton Internet Security 2009 detected 86% of our malware, just 3% behind the A-Listed Avira.

This month again with default settings it came only just behind the German suite, identifying 90% of our current threats – as well as the two questionable applications that Avira overlooked. Commendably, it tries to keep out of your way by scanning the hard disk when it detects your computer is idle.

We were pleased to see the firewall kept our attacks at bay too, while shared folders continued to work seamlessly – no messy configuration required. And a new browser plug-in shows trust ratings for online retailers, so you can be confident you’re not giving your credit card to dodgy types.

The backup client hasn’t been revamped quite so thoroughly, but it’s more flexible than it was. You can now create multiple backup sets, and specify files to back up by any combination of location and file-type, as well as right-clicking on individual files to mark them for backup.

The standard package comes with a year’s access to 2GB of online storage (upgradeable for a fee, naturally), but you can use your own local media if you prefer. Backups, like malware scans, are carried out when the computer’s idle, so novices can simply “set and forget”.

It’s a shame that more advanced users aren’t catered for so thoughtfully. If you want to tinker with the advanced features, digging into the interface can involve jumping through some rather arbitrary hoops.

And to those who are informed enough to put together their own bespoke security and backup combination, the £52 price looks a little steep.

But really the package isn’t aimed at that market: it’s intended as a simple, unobtrusive solution for the less technically-inclined, and that’s a role it fulfils admirably.